Back to the Hellmouth [STA - 1]
by C-Man
Summary: The Harvest is coming, and Xander wants to make it a more bloodless affair... Part One of Second Time Around series. Follows the Prologue. Duh. B/X
1. New/Old Beginnings

Title: Back to the Hellmouth - STA 1

Author: C-Man

Disclaimer: You can't sue me, I'm broke! Ha! But I still don't own these characters. In fact, I stole the story concept too, so I own nothing!

Rating: PG-13, I think

Summary: The Harvest is coming, and Xander wants to make it a more bloodless affair...

Spoilers: Extensive for "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "The Harvest"

Distribution: Hey, get your grubby hands away from my fic!!! Actually, I could care less. Want? Take. Have.

Feedback: Absolutely. It's like a drug. umrohrig@cc.umanitoba.ca

Notes: This is a direct follow-on to my the Prologue of the "Second Time Around" series

... - thoughts

* * * * * - time passes  
  


  
  


__**_Chapter III - New/Old Beginnings_**_  
  
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_January 5, 1997_

_10:45 PM_

_Harris Residence_  
  


  
  


The complete blackness of Xander's vision was replaced by a less pervasive darkness as his eyes adjusted to their new surroundings. Blinking a few times, he realized he was laying down, with a blanket pulled up to his chin. The room he was in was dark, with rays of light from streetlights wafting in through a window. Xander sat up in the bed and surveyed the room he was in. Clothes strewn everywhere, assorted other junk on the floor and the dresser on the other side of the room, and posters of mid-90s music stars plastered on the walls. This was what his room looked like years before.

Remembering his conversation with Whistler, Xander jumped out of bed and searched for a calendar. One was hanging above his bed. Miss January 1997 stared back at him, and he knew that he hadn't just had a really psycho, crazy dream. It was real. He'd been sent four and a half years back in time.

Convinced, Xander got back in bed and started planning. Tomorrow, he would 'meet' Buffy. How was he going to handle that? He remembered that when Buffy first came to Sunnydale, she was trying to get away from her destiny. If he just told her he knew who she was, she'd just avoid him. Maybe just letting events take their course was the best course of action. No. This whole thing is about me changing things for the better. I've known Buffy for years now. I can get her to change her mind about abandoning her calling, instead of circumstances forcing it on her. Who knows? That could save a few lives

Now, how am I going to present my information? Xander wondered. Maybe he could just tell them he was from the future, and he'd been sent back to help them. Xander figured that would be the easiest path. After all, any lie he told would have to last four and a half years. If his friends caught him in a lie, they may not trust him when world-saveage became an issue, and that could be bad all around. So, the truth looked like the best option. Sure, he wouldn't tell them everything, but they'd understand that some things needed to be kept secret until the time came.

That aside, Xander turned to the big picture. The three tragedies he had to prevent. Angel losing his soul, Faith going bad, and Buffy being turned. The last two he couldn't do anything about for years, but the Angel thing he could start on now. Whistler said that Angel was only meant to help the Slayer, so that's what he'd make sure happened. Buffy could not fall for him. How to do that? Buffy herself had known that her relationship with Angel was unhealthy and doomed to failure, but that hadn't stopped her. But ... she hadn't known that Angel was a vampire until several months after she'd met him. By that time she had already fallen in love with him, and, well, love is blind. So, he'd have to reveal Angel for what he was in the very near future, and Buffy would put all romantic ideas of him out of her mind. If all else fails, I can tell them about the curse's escape clause and hope they believe me

Another way to keep Buffy and Angel apart was to turn Buffy's attention elsewhere. Which is where I come in Xander already knew that Buffy was capable of loving him, and she hadn't changed too much in the years he'd known her. She was more world-weary, but her generally upbeat attitude hadn't changed. It had wavered after the disintegration of two major relationships, but she always recovered. The reason nothing ever happened between us until the end was because there was never a good time. There was always a significant other in the way, or one or the other were recovering from a failed relationship. That, and the first impression I gave her was of goofy, Xander-friend-guy. Well, that's gonna change come tomorrow With that, Xander ended his planning for the night, and drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.  


  
  
  


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___January 6, 1997_

_8:30 AM_

_Sunnydale High School  
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Buffy Summers slowly strolled up the walkway leading into Sunnydale High, taking in the cheerful atmosphere around her. It would be nice to make a fresh start in a place completely oblivious to her troubled past. There was no one here who had any idea of the destiny that she carried with her, the destiny she was trying to leave behind in the charred remains of her old high school's gym. With any luck, Sunnydale would turn out to be the quiet, non-threatening town it seemed to be.

She noticed a dark-haired boy leaning against the wall next the school entrance, intently scrutinizing her. The corners of his mouth were slightly upturned in a small smile. Buffy thought she saw a look of recognition in his eyes, and she suddenly realized she was staring right back at him. She shook her head slightly and walked by him, his eyes still on her. What was that about? The strange thing was that while he'd been watching her, she didn't just feel like a piece of meat, like when most other guys leered at her. His gaze had almost seemed gentle and inquisitive, instead of filled with lust. Again she shook herself out of her thoughts, wondering why she was having such thoughts about someone she'd never even met.  
  


  
  


Xander had decided when he got up this morning that taking his skateboard with him would just be tempting the fates to repeat his first encounter with Buffy. No running into a steel railing this time. 

As Buffy had walked by him, he'd noticed her unconsciously staring at him and decided that that boded well for him. He'd never been stare-worthy in her eyes when he'd first met her. I am more mature now, on the inside if not the outside. That's probably what she's looking for in a guy. Angel had a good two centuries of maturity under his belt. If you call a century of killing followed by a century of brooding 'maturity'

"Hey, Xand, what's with the duds?" Xander was snapped from his reverie by the voice of his childhood best friend, Willow Rosenberg, looking much different from the last time he'd seen her. Her short wavy hair was replaced by long, straight red locks. Her demeanor was also very different, much more withdrawn and introverted.

"Just my regular post-holidays wardrobe, Wills," he said with a lop-sided smile. He was dressed a lot differently than sixteen year old Xander usually was. A black long sleeved silk shirt with matching jeans covered his lanky body. All part of his master plan to improve his first impression on Buffy.

Xander noticed that Willow also appreciated his wardrobe choice. He wasn't used to her noticing that anymore. Not since she'd 'switched teams,' so to speak. Of course, in this Willow, lesbianism was probably the farthest thing from her mind, and her Xander-crush the first thing. That was another thing that worked against me and Buffy. If she had any feelings for me in the beginning, she pushed them to the side because she didn't want to hurt Willow. I wonder if Oz is around...

"You all right, Xand? You seem kinda quiet," Willow asked with a concerned look. Xander realized he'd just been standing there while he'd been thinking; and deep thinking wasn't something Xander Harris was famous for. Time to get back into character.

"Hmm? Na, I'm OK. Just thinking I could use some help with math, study buddy," Xander said with a smile.

"Uh, which part?" Willow asked.

"Pretty much the math part. So, whaddya say? Tonight, after school? There's a shiny nickel in it for ya."

Willow nodded. "Okay. You should check out 'Theories in Trig,' it's a really good study aid."

"Check it out? From the library?"  
Willow smirked at her friend. "That is where the books live."

"All right, I'm there," Xander said, enthusiastically pushing away from the wall and heading into the school, with Willow at his heels. He thought ahead to what was about to happen, and nearly tripped over his own feet at the realization. Jesse!! I can't believe I didn't think about Jesse until now! He's supposed to die tonight! Well, this is test number one: save your best friend.

Walking through the entrance, Xander saw his long dead friend walking up to them. He fought the urge to pull Jesse into a bear hug, and just greeted him with a wide smile. "Jesse! What's the what?"

Jesse smirked at him, and simply said, "New girl."

"Oh, yeah! I saw her. I think I'll have to unleash the ol' Harris charm on her."

Willow didn't look particularly happy with that. "I heard she transferred here from LA. Her school burned down, or something."

Jesse's eyes lit up, as if he'd just heard the best idea on earth. "Well, it was a good arson if it caused New Girl to move here. She's pretty much a hottie."

"Down, boy! I saw her first. I got dibs on Bu-, uh, her," Xander caught himself in time; he wasn't supposed to know her name yet. Not quick enough, though. Jesse and Willow exchanged a glance.

"Buh-uher?" they asked with curious glances.

This was going to be a long day.  
  


  
  
  
  


* * * * *  
  


  
  


___9:00 AM_

_SHS Main Hallway  
_  


  
  


This is going to be a long day Buffy thought as she stepped out of the principal's office. Her meeting with Principal Flutie had started well enough. He'd seemed to be totally forgiving of her past transgressions, but that was before he'd actually read her permanent record. And found out she'd burned down her school gym and been expelled. The meeting had gone downhill from there.

She was rummaging through her bag, looking for her class schedule, when she bumped into someone, and she lost her grip on it. The bag landed with a thump, and its contents spilled out. "Oh! Sorry," she said to the girl she'd bumped into, who muttered an 'it's okay' before continuing on with her boyfriend.

Buffy looked at her scattered belongings with dismay, and bent down to pick them up. She sensed someone in front of her and looked up to see the dark-haired boy from earlier crouching down to help her.

"Can I help you?" he asked carefully; a little too carefully, she thought.

Buffy smiled at him. "Thanks."

As they gathered up her books, he asked, "So, I haven't seen you around before. You new in town?"

"Um, yeah. Just moved here from LA. I'm Buffy," she replied and stood when her bag was refilled.

"I'm Alexander Harris, local funnyman and dispenser of tasteless jokes, extrodinaire," he said with an exaggerated bow, at which Buffy giggled. With his lop-sided grin on, he added. "But you can call me Xander."

Buffy smiled widely. "Well, joke-guy, maybe I'll run into you again."

"I'd like that, Buffy," he said with a grin, and caught sight of something else on the floor. Bending down, he picked up the wooden stake that had fallen out of her bag, the one she kept there out of habit. Uh, oh.

"Uh, here's your wooden stake," he said handing it to her. "Can't be too careful with all those vampires running around at night, huh, Buff?"

Buffy was slightly surprised at Xander's correct assumption, but then snapped out of it and laughed nervously. "Vampires, yeah, that's it, ha, ha. Nah, i-it's for, uh, self defence. Yeah. Pepper spray is just so passé."

Xander smiled. "Whatever you say, Ms. Summers." And with that he walked away.

Buffy was perplexed again by the dark haired boy. He talked like he actually believed in vampires. Was there something more to this town than meets the eye? She took out her schedule again, and started walking to her first class, but stopped in her tracks as something else struck her. How did Xander know my last name?  
  


  
  
  
  


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9:45 AM

SHS Library  
  


  
  


After her first class, History, ended, Buffy had been taken aside by Sunnydale's resident rich bitch, Cordelia Chase, and explained the rules of the school. Namely, who to hang with and who to avoid like the plague if you wanted to be with the 'in crowd.' It almost made Buffy shudder to remember that she'd been so much like that before she'd learned she was the Slayer. After that, maintaining social standing had really dropped down her priority list. The enforced change of attitude had to be one of the only good things to come out of her destiny. The rest of it pretty much sucked though.

After finally getting rid of Cordelia, Buffy pushed open the doors to the school library. The place looked deserted.

"Hello," she called out as she continued inside. "Is anybody here?" Buffy walked over to the circulation desk and saw a newspaper opened on it. Glancing over it, she saw a story declaring 'Local Boys Still Missing,' and an associated picture, which was circled in red pen. She was about to start reading when she was tapped on the shoulder. Startled, she spun around and came face-to-face with a middle aged, sandy-haired man dressed in tweed. "Oh!" she exhaled when she saw him. "Anybody's here."

"Can I help you?" the man asked in a British accent.

"I'm looking for some, well, books. I'm new."

The Brit's face registered recognition, and he said, "Miss Summers?"

"Good call! Guess I'm the only new kid, huh?"

"I'm Mr. Giles, the librarian. I was told you were coming," he said as he walked behind the counter.

Something about his tone made Buffy uneasy, but she continued with her cheery facade. "Great!" she looked down at her book list. "So, um, I'm gonna need 'Perspectives on 20th Century-"

Giles interrupted her while reaching under the counter. "I know what you're after." He grinned and pulled out an big, old book and put it on the counter for Buffy to see. In gold letters on the cover was written 'VAMPYR.'

Buffy almost groaned as she realized what was up. British guy decked out in tweed with books on vampires. The guy was a Watcher! Just when she thought she'd escaped her destiny, someone was here to try and make her accept it again. She decided to play dumb and maybe he'd leave her alone.

"That's not what I'm looking for," she said in an even tone.

"Are you sure?" Giles asked.

"I'm way sure," Buffy replied.

Looking confused at the Slayer's denial, Giles picked up the book. "My mistake," he said and bent down to put it away. Seeing her chance to escape, Buffy quickly made her way to the exit. When he straightened up, Giles found an empty room and the library doors swinging shut.  
  


  
  


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___11:45 AM_

_SHS Quad  
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After a couple more mind-numbingly boring classes in the morning, Buffy made her way outside to have lunch. The day was too sunny and calm to be wasted in a cramped and smelly cafeteria. Looking around the quad, Buffy spotted Willow, the shy girl that Cordelia had made fun of, sitting alone on a bench in front of a low wall. Deciding to try and make at least one new friend today, Buffy made her way over to the redhead. "Uh, hi. Willow, right?"

The girl looked up in surprise, as if she'd never expected to be talked to. "Why?" she blurted out. "I-I mean, hi! Di-did you want me to move?" she asked meekly.

Buffy smiled down at her. "Uh, why don't we start with 'Hi, I'm Buffy,' and, uh, then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor," sitting down next to Willow, she continued. "It doesn't involve you moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while."

Willow looked confused. "But, aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?" she said, as if the two concepts were antithetical.

"I can't do both?" Buffy asked.

"Not legally."

Buffy sighed loudly, and explained. "Look, I really wanna get by here, new school, and ... Cordelia's been really nice ... to me ... anyway, but, um, I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up."

Willow suddenly got excited at the prospect of a new friend, even if they just wanted her to help study. "Oh, I could totally help you out! Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the library?"

Buffy cringed. I soooo don't want to see that Watcher there "Or not. Or we could meet someplace quieter," she said, then suddenly realized that didn't make any sense and continued. "Louder," Nope, that's not right, either "Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins."

Willow nodded sadly. "Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though, it's a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool."

Mention of the librarian/Watcher got Buffy's attention. "He's new?"

"Yeah, he just started. He was a curator at some British museum, or, or The British Museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies and am I the single dullest person alive?" Willow finished tamely.

"Not at all."

Movement behind her caused Buffy to turn and see the smiling face of Xander Harris while he sat on the wall behind them. She felt herself tense up at the arrival of the mysterious young man. Her unease shot up even more at his greeting. "Hey, Buffy! What's stakin', uh, shakin'?"

She could tell that that line was staged for her benefit. Okay, first he stares at me when I walk up to school, then he talks about vampires like its no biggie, and now this 'stakin' remark. He knows something She was jarred from her deliberations by Willow's voice. "Huh?"

"I said, Buffy, this is Jesse," she said indicating a shorter brown haired boy standing in front of them, "And I guess you already met Xander."

"Uh, yeah. I ran into him before classes this morning," Buffy said uncertainly.

"So," Xander started. "what's the Buffy Summers story? We want to hear everything. Turn ons, turn offs, deep dark secrets that cannot see the light of day?"

Buffy tried to evade. "Gee, everyone wants to know about me. How keen."

"Well in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it town like Sunnydale, new students are, like, front page news," Jesse said.

"I'm really not," Buffy pressed, and was actually relieved when Cordelia walked up and interrupted their conversation.

"Are these guys bothering you?" Cordelia asked Buffy, regarding the little group with contempt. Only Jesse seemed happy to see her, and he started inching towards her.

"Uh, no!" Buffy replied automatically. Her tension regarding Xander aside, she'd rather talk with them than receive popularity advice from some stuck up prom queen.

By this time Jesse had sidled up next to said prom queen. "Hey, Cordelia!"

Rolling her eyes, Cordy scoffed "Oh, please," and turned back to Buffy. "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym was canceled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker."

Uh, oh. I've got a bad feeling about this. "What?" Buffy asked. She glanced at Xander, and saw that he was in a similar state of curiosity.

"What are you talking about?" Willow put in.

"Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker!" Cordelia exclaimed.

"Dead," Buffy said, a statement, not a question.

"Totally dead! Way dead!"

"Not just a little dead, then," Xander joked. He had a contemplative look on his face that belied the comment, though.

Annoyed at Xander's 'interruption,' Cordelia sneered, "Don't you have an elsewhere to be?"

Jesse tried his luck again. "Y'know, if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on..."

Everyone ignored him. "How did he die?" Buffy questioned.

Cordelia shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know." 

"Well, did he have marks?" Buffy asked before she could stop herself.

Cordelia's face scrunched up in disgust. "Morbid much?! I didn't ask!"

Despite her common sense screaming at her to let it go, Buffy decided she'd do a little investigation. "Um, I gotta book. I'll, I'll see you guys later," and she beat a hasty retreat, catching a knowing look on Xander's face as she walked away. She had a feeling he knew exactly what she was up to.  
  


  
  


The others watched Buffy walk away and Cordelia wondered out loud, "What's her deal?" Xander knew, of course. He'd watched Buffy's reactions to his not-so-subtle allusions, and decided he'd had enough fun for today. The next time he and Buffy were alone, he'd tell his story. Well, no time like the present, is there?

"I'm gonna take off too, guys. Gotta get that book of Wills' from the library." Xander said, getting up to retrieve his bag, then heading toward the school. When he noticed his friends not watching him anymore, he redirected to follow Buffy.  
  


  
  


Buffy walked up to the back entrance to the school gym, and saw that it was chained shut. Looking around, and seeing no witnesses, Buffy quickly grabbed the chain, and broke it in half with her preternatural strength. Quickly entering, she made her way to the women's locker room and found the body covered in a sheet. Slowly withdrawing it from the boy's head, Buffy was greeted with the sight of the two tell tale bite marks on the side of his neck. "Oh, great!"

Vampires in Sunnydale. Why me? she thought as she made her way out of the locker room, intent on telling Watcher guy about it and then getting the hell out of dodge. She was stopped, however, when a familiar figure stepped into the locker room doorway. It was Xander, examining the chain she'd broken to get inside.

"Well, someone has sure been eating their Wheaties," he said, motioning with the broken chain.

Buffy snapped. With a growl of frustration, she grabbed Xander by his shirt and pulled him into the locker room. Dragging him to a bench, she pushed him down to sit on it and put her hands on her hips. "All right, funny guy! I'm sick and tired of you dropping your little hints around me. I've been having a bad day, and my patience has been worn down to nothing. You are going to tell me how you know who I am, or I am going to get violent!" she said, impaling him with a glare the whole time.

To Buffy's further frustration and anger, Xander answered by bursting out laughing. She was about to grab him and bash his head into the wall a few times when he held up his hand and sputtered out between chuckles, "Hold it, Buff. Always with the 'hit first, ask questions later,' huh?" She continued toward him menacingly, so Xander finally stifled his laughter. "OK, OK. I'm good," he said, then took a deep breath and launching into his explanation.

"Well, the short version is that I'm from the future, and have known you for almost five years." Buffy's face scrunched up disbelievingly, so he continued. "But from the look on your face, the long version will be required. Essentially, I'm twenty year old Xander Harris in sixteen year old Xander Harris' body, and I'm here to make sure you succeed in carrying out your destiny by using my knowledge of events to come. I know what is going to happen because I spent the years 1997 to 2001 helping you out in all the vampire killing and world saving of those years."

Buffy was speechless. A million thoughts ran through her head, ranging from That's impossible to Cool to Huh?. "How?" she finally asked, which she decided would be the easiest question to ask.

Xander fidgeted uncomfortably. "Uh, well, y'see, I, um ... died in August 2001, and this is my 'second chance,' as that guy I talked to put it. I guess someone up there took pity on me and my sucky life." Buffy still wore a confused expression on her face, and Xander went on. "OK, things about you I couldn't possibly know if I'd just met you. Uuuuuuh-ehh!" he exclaimed in triumph. "You just moved here from LA because you got expelled from your old school when you burned down the gym to kill a bunch of vamps that had invaded a school dance. The same night you fought a Master vamp named Lothos, who had killed your first Watcher, Merrick, and dusted him by setting him on fire then staking him with a Number 2 pencil. You have a stuffed pig named Mr. Gordo. Um, you're measurements are-"

Buffy decided enough was enough and hurried to cut off the overly-knowledgeable young man in front of her. "All right!! I believe you!! No need to give me my..." she trailed off. "Never mind," Xander had a wide grin on his face. "So, you're here to help me 'fulfill my destiny,' is that it? Just one problem with that. I'm not the Slayer anymore, OK? I quit," Buffy finished, emphatically.

Xander stood up from his bench and met Buffy's unflinching glare with his own, softer gaze. It was a little disconcerting for Buffy to have someone she barely knew looking at her with such understanding and caring. "Buffy, I know that you hate the generally crappy conditions that come along with the responsibilities of the Slayer. God knows, that's been one of the constants of your attitude in the time I've known you. You hate the fact that you can't have friends without exposing them to your dangerous life. And you blame yourself for not protecting them if something goes wrong. No one has ever, or I doubt, will ever, take away that world-on-your-shoulders mentality you've got going on, so I'm not even gonna try. But I can tell you that the friends you make here will be there for you through thick and thin. And they, and you, will survive, and, if I have anything to say about it, be happy." Xander finished with a reassuring smile.

Buffy stood in open mouthed shock at Xander's dissection of her innermost fears. She had never really articulated them to anyone, not even in her own mind, but despite that she knew he had spoken true. She'd lost most of her friends when the burden of being the Slayer was pushed upon her, and those few that remained either were killed or left behind when she was expelled and moved to Sunnydale. All in all, since being Chosen, her life had gone downhill. Now, here she was, being told by Xander that her life was going to get better, and that he'd do everything he could to guarantee it. It was easy for her to see in his sincere eyes that he was a true friend. Or something more? she wondered to herself. His eyes also seemed to shine with something beyond mere caring and friendliness. She'd never seen that kind of look from a guy before. I'll think about this later she promised herself.

Finally, Buffy started when she realized her thoughts had gotten really off topic. She'd just lost herself contemplating the emotions behind the welcoming brown eyes she had been staring into for God-knew how long. Xander blinked abruptly when Buffy broke out of her trance as well. They grinned sheepishly at one another before Xander spoke again. "Uh, yeah. Well, anyway, another reason to not swear off Slaying is the fact that Sunnydale is the last place a Slayer should come to retire."

Buffy remembered the blood-drained corpse she'd originally come here to see, and put two and two together. "Great. So, what, Sunnydale's like, vamp central or something?"

Xander smiled knowingly (of course) at her. "Something like that," he said, glancing toward the locker room exit. "I'll explain later, when I have G-Man to fill in the blanks in my memory." Off her confused look, Xander clarified. "Oh. Uh, Giles ... the new librarian slash Watcher. Any of this making sense?"

Buffy groaned at the thought of seeing the Watcher again. "Great. Just what I need. Another stuffy Brit telling me what to do," she said as Xander led her out of the room.

"Don't worry, Buff. He's not so bad. You'll see," Xander promised with a smile.  


  
  
  


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___12:15 PM_

_SHS Library  
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The library seemed empty when Buffy and Xander pushed the doors open and sauntered in. Buffy called, "Hey, Watcher boy! Where are ya?"

Giles walked out of his office when he heard Buffy's voice, but hesitated when he saw Xander with her. "Uh, Miss Summers, w-w-what came I do for you?"

"Well, there's this dead guy in the gym with two little holes in his neck, and all the blood drained from his body. Weird, huh?"

Xander saw Giles considering that, and then looking at Xander in trepidation. "I-I don't know what you mean, Miss Summers."

Xander decided to put in his two cents. "Well, Giles, we were thinking a vampire killed him." He tried to suppress a grin when the Watcher's eyes almost popped out of his head at his statement. The look soon turned to anger, directed at Buffy.

"You told _him_!?" Giles said, indicating Xander, "Keeping your identity secret should be one of your-your paramount concerns!"

Before Buffy could reply in righteous indignation, Xander spoke. "Actually, Ripper," he said, emphasizing Giles' moniker from his rebellious college days, which elicited another look of shock on the librarian's face. "She didn't tell me, I already knew. I know a lot of things, actually," he finished with a mischievous grin.

Giles stammered for a few moments, trying to form a coherent statement, and finally succeeded with, "Who are you?"

Xander smiled back at the flustered Watcher. It was a sight he had rarely seen. "Xander Harris, G-Man," he said, hoping for a 'don't call me that' from Giles. Unfortunately, the older man was still a little out of it, so he continued. "I've been sent by the, uh ... I guess you could call them the 'Powers That Be,' to help out the Buffster here," Buffy gave him a strange look at the use of his old/new nickname for her, "and save a few lives that weren't the first time around."

"T-the first time?" Giles asked, curious.

"Oh, right. I'm from the future, but I died and now I'm getting a chance to set things right. Lucky me."

If anything, Giles looked even more confused, while Buffy was getting impatient. Xander decided to get down to business; that would calm the Watcher down. "Look. It's a little too complicated to explain right now, so why don't we get down to business, namely saving the world tomorrow." That outta get their attention

It did. They gave him incredulous looks, followed by one of understanding on Giles' face. "There have been signs of late pointing to a profound mystical upheaval in the near future," Giles started, getting into professor mode. "though I haven't been able t-to discern when precisely it will occur and what will happen."

"The Mouth of Hell is going to open," Xander said simply. "unleashing Hell on earth and all that jazz."

Giles eyes widened again. They really are gonna pop out of his sockets if he keeps doing that "Good Lord! You're certain?"

"Like I said, I've lived through this before," Xander said, and was about to continue when a frustrated Slayer spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, getting their attention. "Hi there, guys. Can we have some back story for the peanut gallery, please? And keep the supernatural mumbo-jumbo to a minimum."

Giles took off his glasses and wiped them with a handkerchief, a sure sign to Xander that he was about to launch into a long-winded lecture, so he interrupted the Watcher. "The long and short of it, Buffy, is that Sunnydale is built upon a gateway to a horrible demon dimension. That's the Hellmouth, and it gives off oodles of mystical energy that attracts all sorts of unspeakable creatures of the night from all over the place to good ol' Sunny-D. Which is why Sunnydale has such a big vampire and demon population, as you'll see. Right now, the big boss man of the underworld in Sunnydale is this centuries-old vampire who calls himself the Master. Fortunately, he's trapped underground in a mystical prison at the moment, and that's what keeps the Hellmouth closed. Understand?" he asked the Slayer. She nodded slowly. "OK, now, tomorrow night is the Harvest, Giles' mystical upheaval-thingy. The planets are aligned, the time is right and all that. The Master can designate one of his minions as his 'Vessel' and every soul he consumes during the Harvest will go straight to the Master. Once he gets enough souls, he can break out of his underground prison and then the Hellmouth will open, and turn the world into a living hell, and I do mean that literally."

Giles looked impressed at Xander's exposition, and Buffy looked a little nervous at his message. "So, how do we stop it? We obviously do, right? Or you wouldn't be here," she pointed out.

"Pretty easily, actually. Just kill the Vessel and the Master goes back into limbo and the world is safe for another week. In fact, we might even be able to preempt it tonight if we can find and dust, uh, Duke, or Luke, or something. I don't know. I'll know him when I see him. He was the Vessel last time. I don't know if the Master can just pass it on to another minion, but Luke was the toughest one."

Buffy nodded again. "So where can I find him?"

"There's this crypt in a graveyard by the Bronze where you fought him last time. But he kinda showed up by accident that time. I don't know why he did, and I don't know if he will tonight. Besides, there are gonna be a couple of the Master's other minions trolling the Bronze for food tonight that we need to take out first." And therefore save Jesse and Willow. I'm a genius Xander thought.

Before the conversation could continue, the bell rang to end lunch hour. Xander picked up his bag from the floor and heaved it over his shoulder. "In case I don't see you again today, Buff, let's meet at the Bronze, say sevenish, and I'll give you some more details if I can remember them," Xander said, walking toward the exit, then he stopped, and threw over his shoulder, "Wear something nice." And he pushed through the swing doors, leaving a dazed Watcher and Slayer behind. Smiling all the way.  
  


  
  
  
  


End III


	2. Vengeance

See previous part for Disclaimer, etc.**__**

  
  


**_Chapter IV - Vengeance_**__

  
  


_January 6, 1997_

_6:50 PM_

_A block from the Bronze_

  
  


Great, a stalker. My day just can't get any weirder Buffy thought as she darted into a alleyway and looked around for a hiding place. She'd noticed a tall figure dressed in black following her, as she made her way to the Bronze to meet with Xander, about a block back. Idly, Buffy wondered how long he had been following her. Her mind hadn't exactly been on focusing her enhanced Slayer senses like it should have been in a town supposedly swarming with vamps. No, she'd been thinking about all the crazy and unbelievable crap that had happened at her first day of school. A time traveler who knows all about me, a new Watcher, and the end of the world. Just another day in the life of Buffy Summers she mused.

Looking around the narrow alley, Buffy tried not to breath through her nose and inhale the less than savory scent common to dirty alleys everywhere. There was a grating of metal on metal as her appearance frightened a stray cat from its perch on a not-quite-closed garbage can, but otherwise, silence reigned. Looking up, Buffy spotted a sturdy looking metal bar about nine feet above the ground connected to the buildings on either side of the alley. She smirked as she decided to use a little of her Slayer agility to surprise her stalker. Taking a few steps back, Buffy took a running jump at the bar, and grabbing it, let her momentum carry herself around it. When she had spun 180 degrees around, she straightened herself out fully, slowing herself into a wobbly handstand on the bar. Buffy quickly righted herself and waited for her tail to show himself.

The sound of quiet footfalls alerted Buffy to the fact that her stalker was approaching, and she saw him scan the alley before walking into it. The man was dressed entirely in black, from the trenchcoat down to his shoes. His hair was dark and slicked into spikiness and he had dreary dark eyes sunk into his skull. Not bad to look at, if he weren't a creepy stalker and probably a vampire He didn't notice her as he walked under her perch, and Buffy pushed herself forward, spinning around the bar behind the stranger's back until she connected with a solid kick that sent him sprawling. He managed to roll onto his back before Buffy was on him, pushing him back to the ground with a foot on his chest. The stalker let out a loud sigh when he saw her, and spoke in a deep voice.

"Ah, heh. Is there a problem ma'am?" he asked with a slight smile.

Rolling her eyes, Buffy responded, "Yeah, there's a problem. Why are you following me?"

Putting his hands over his head in mock surrender, her second mystery man of the day said, "I know what you're thinking. Don't worry, I don't bite," smirking with the last phrase.

Buffy sighed long-sufferingly. Great. More inside jokes. This is getting old real fast "Was there a press release I missed, or something? Does everyone in this town know I'm the Slayer?" Deciding to hear what dark mysterious stranger #2 had to say, Buffy stepped off his chest, and took a couple steps back, staying in her fighting stance.

He slowly got to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck. "Truth is, I thought you'd be taller, bigger muscles and all that. You're pretty spry though."

Spry? Who says 'spry?' "What do you want?" Buffy asked, a suspicious frown on her face.

"The same thing you want," he said.

Not relaxing her stance one iota, Buffy humored him. "And, what do I want?"

Taking a step toward her, the man answered, "To kill them. To kill them all."

Oooh, menacing "Is that right?" Buffy inquired acidly. "Well, that's nice to know. Unfortunately, I work alone, so, buh-bye," she said, and turned to walk away.

He wasn't finished yet, apparently. "Do you really think that's an option anymore? You're standing at the Mouth of Hell. And its about to open."

Getting an annoying sense of deja vu, Buffy spun around and spoke to her stalker/informant. "Look, I already talked to your buddy about it. Harvest, blah, blah, Master rising, yadda yadda, end of the world! I've got it covered, so please, go stalk someone else."

The stranger seemed a little shocked at her rant, and was tongue-tied for a moment. It was all the time she needed to turn and walk out of the alley, turning the corner just as he opened his mouth again and reached into his coat pocket for something. Dismayed at her hasty departure, he turned and walked out the other end of the alley, his coat billowing behind him.

  
  


* * * * *

  
  


_7:00 PM_

_The Bronze_

  
  


Xander sat his usual (or what would become his usual) table in the Bronze, about mid way between the front entrance and the bar. The night was still relatively young, so half the tables in the popular night club were empty, and the dance floor was almost bereft of teenagers. Xander was absentmindedly twirling the ice in his Pepsi with a straw, and concentrating on scanning the Bronze for any familiar faces. Familiar dead faces. Specifically, Xander was searching for the deceptively angelic face of Darla.

From what he remembered of the events surrounding the Harvest, which was a lot considering they introduced him to the world of the supernatural, the four hundred year old vampiress was the one most responsible for the death and unholy resurrection of Jesse. She had seduced him into following her to his death, and she had been the one who abducted him during Buffy's first fight with Luke in the cemetery. For all Xander knew she might even have been the one to turn him.

For that, Xander hated her with a passion normally reserved for Angelus, which, he realized suddenly, was another reason to hate her. Darla was responsible for bringing that most sadistic and depraved of vampires into the world. Directly or indirectly through her demented childe, Darla was the cause of much of the pain in Xander's life. Jesse's death. Angel's existence in Sunnydale and Buffy's subsequent love for the vampire, ruining any chance Xander had with the woman he loved. Angelus' crimes against his loved ones. Jenny Calendar's murder. The list went on and on. And for her crimes, Xander vowed Darla wouldn't survive the night.

Pushing his vengeful thoughts aside, Xander glanced at his watch. 7:10. Buffy should have been here by now. Maybe I didn't do a good enough job of convincing her he thought worriedly. He had picked seven o'clock to met at the Bronze because Willow and Jesse wouldn't be there until at least quarter to eight. Willow had always done her homework before going out with her friends, and he and Jesse were always patient and tolerant of her bookish-ness. That usually meant that the three friends wouldn't arrive at the Bronze until eight or later. Xander was counting on that tonight in order to keep them out of harm's way.

Xander spotted a flash of blonde hair at the Bronze's entrance and smiled when he saw Buffy surveying Sunnydale's one and only club. Xander sat back in his seat and waved his hand to beckon her over. She saw him and flashed him a smile, and then made her way across the sparse dance floor to his table. Looking her over as she approached, Xander was reminded of a fact he had almost forgotten over the past couple years he'd spent getting over Buffy - no one wears short skirts like Buffy wears short skirts. She'd grown out of that phase by the time she entered college, and she still looked great in whatever she wore, but the sixteen-year-old in Xander was drooling over her now.

Outwardly, Xander was not drooling, just smiling appreciatively. "Hey, Buffy! Took my advice, I see," he said, visibly scanning her with his eyes.

The corners of her mouth twitched up in a smile as she looked down at herself. "What, this old thing?" she asked innocently before pulling a chair out and sitting opposite Xander.

Hey! That was ... yeah, that was a definite flirt there! Woo hoo! ... I mean ... Woo hoo! Xand-man one, Deadboy nada His internal rejoicing was cut short when he noticed Buffy staring at him strangely.

"Earth to Xander," she said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. "You kinda zoned out there. Is that, like, a side-effect of time travel?"

Note to self: less internal monologue

"Huh? No! I just, y'know, space out sometimes when I'm thinking," Xander replied quickly.

Buffy nodded at that, then leaned back in her chair, folding her arms in front of her chest. A moment of silence fell over the duo, which surprised Xander a bit. Buffy didn't know him very well, so her silence was understandable. He, on the other hand, was rarely speechless around his friends. It's because you're freaked that you'll screw up your first shot with Buffy, again his mind told him, which made sense, he thought.

"So," Buffy finally broke the silence. "did you check the winning lottery numbers before you went all 'Back to the Future'?"

Xander broke out in a wide grin. "That does sound like something I'd do. Unfortunately, I was too busy getting the blood sucked out of me at the time." Buffy cringed and opened her mouth to apologize, but Xander cut her off. "Don't apologize Buff. I make bad jokes about stuff like that all the time. I was the comic relief when things were looking bleak back in the good old days."

"Oh. So what was that like? I mean, will be like. Er- you know this is really confusing. And not fair! You can read me like a book but I know next to nothing about you!" Buffy exclaimed in frustration.

"Okay, Buff. How about for now we just talk about the present, and leave getting to know one another for a non-fight night?" Xander asked, trying to steer their conversation in a useful direction.

Calming down, Buffy nodded. "All right," she sighed. "So, what about these vamps here tonight? Where are they?"

After looking around to make sure they hadn't arrived in the last few minutes, Xander turned back to Buffy and responded. "Not here yet. Neither are their original victims. One of them was a guy in a leather jacket who looked like he stepped out of the '80s, and the other was a girl, Darla," he spat out her name.

Hearing the venom in his voice, Buffy asked. "What's her deal?"

"It's personal," Xander said, uncharacteristically terse.

Mulling that over for a bit, Buffy stated, "So, it's something she's going to do, right?"

Might as well, tell her. It'll help clear up any trust issues between us. I just know she's thinking in the back of her mind that I may be working against her. Can't say I'd blame her. This whole situation seems too crazy to believe

"Her victim is going to be Jesse," Xander spoke matter-of-factly. Buffy's mouth opened in surprise. "Which is why I had us meet before he and Will arrived and which is why I am going to stake her personally."

His cold tone told Buffy that there wasn't to be any argument on that score, and Xander hoped she wouldn't play the 'I'm the Slayer, you're not' card. Luckily she didn't, and merely changed the subject.

"You didn't bring any friends with you from the future, did you?" she asked. 

Xander raised an eyebrow at her question. "What do you mean?"

"Well, just before I got here, I had to beat up this stalker guy who wanted to warn me about your Harvest-thingy. Dark, gorgeous in an annoying sort of way. Seems like you two would be buds."

When Xander realized she was talking about beating up Angel, he had to bite down the laughter he felt coming on. However, he couldn't hold it in any longer when she said she thought they were buds. After a few moments of snickering, he answered the question written all over Buffy's partly confused, partly amused face.

"Oh, Buff!" he said, still trying to swallow his giggles. "Buds, we are not. Angel and I are barely on speaking terms."

"Angel?"

"Uh huh. I'll tell you why that's ironic in a minute. First of all, Angel is on our side, annoying and mysterious though he may be. Second-" Xander trailed off as he spotted something behind Buffy. Someone, actually. His face lost all its humor in an instant.

A blond beauty had just entered the Bronze, walking in and looking around like she owned the place. Several male heads turned as she made her way to the bar, but she ignored them as she ordered something from the bartender. A few moments after the blond entered, a dark haired boy in a leather jacket walked in, sleeves rolled up like some Miami Vice reject.

Xander quickly got over his need to glare a hole in Darla's head and turned his attention back to his glass, taking a sip. Buffy had followed his glare, and also noticed fashion-victim-guy walk in, and came to the obvious conclusion. "That them?"

Xander nodded. "Don't stare at them," he said, and Buffy turned her eyes away from the pair of vamps. Xander looked at his watch. 7:25. Better get this done soon "All right. Here's what we're gonna do..."

  
  


Darla was used to attention from the opposite sex. Though she hadn't seen her own reflection in nearly four hundred years, and her memories of her human life had faded, the turned heads of nearly every male she encountered was proof enough of her exquisite looks. This power she held over men she had learned to use to devastating effect over the centuries. It had come almost naturally to the vampiress, who had used seduction as a human to attract the attention of wealthy gentlemen seeking to have their sexual desires fulfilled. As a member of the undead, her seduction attracted meals and prospective childer.

Tonight, however, Darla's feminine wiles were to be used to serve her Master, her sire, her unholy salvation. After over half a century of imprisonment, he had finally arisen, ready to reenter the world and usher in the end of the age of humanity. For now, however, he was hungry. She would bring him an offering of young blood, perhaps even a new soldier for the coming war against mankind.

Right now, she sat on a stool by the Bronze's bar, scouring the club for an appropriate candidate to join the Order of Aurelius. One of her lesser childer, Thomas, was doing the same on the dance floor. She saw a short blond girl in a proportionally short skirt approaching him. Darla saw Thomas size up the girl and came away with a satisfied smirk. It appeared as though he'd found his offering for the night. So typical of our pathetic minions. Picking up the first piece of meat that comes along

While watching Thomas in his lackluster attempts at enticing the girl, which nevertheless seemed to be working, Darla spied out of the corner of her eye a dark-haired youth take a seat in the stool next to her. He ordered a drink which the bartender went to fetch, and turned his head fractionally, smirking as he appraised Darla with his eyes. His drink arrived, and he took a sip before turning in his stool to face her completely.

"Hey there, beautiful," he said with a grin. "What's a pretty lady like you doing in a dump like this?"

As far as pick-up lines went, Darla had heard a lot worse, but also a lot better. What intrigued her was his delivery. Living for hundreds of years allows one to pick up on subtle nuances in speech and body language that can show the measure of a man. And the young man before her was oozing confidence. Not the brash, arrogant confidence of, say, a star high school quarterback, but the quiet, assured confidence of someone who had lived beyond their years. 

Flashing a seductive smile, Darla turned herself to face him as well. "There aren't many places in Sunnydale to have fun. I'm Darla."

"Alexander Harris."

Darla felt like turning him on the sheer irony of his name alone. Alexander meant 'protector of humanity,' and making him into the destroyer of it would be quite humorous, even if that little inside joke went over the heads of most humans.

Alexander continued to make small talk, but Darla was already getting impatient. As far as she was concerned, he was the perfect offering for the Master. She hoped her sire would bless this young man with eternal life; she hadn't been this anxious over a new vampire since - she thought with a twinge of sadness - Angelus.

As always, thoughts of her most brutal and beloved childe brought with it mixed feelings of anger and longing. Anger at the cursed Gypsies who had de-fanged her poor boy, and at the spineless rodent he had become with his soul. Longing for the days they had ravaged the cities of Europe, and hoping the same would come to pass again in twenty-first century America.

Darla mentally shook herself out of her reverie when she saw Thomas guiding his 'date' out the Bronze's back exit. She decided it was time to for her and Alexander to go, and was about to invite herself back to his place when he beat her to it. "Y'know, it's kind of loud in here, Darla. You wanna go someplace a little more ... private?" he said with a mischievous grin.

Needing no second invitation, Darla replied. "Sure. I know just the place." She stood and took his hand, leading him to the back of the Bronze, following the route Thomas took.

  
  


I'll bet, bitch Xander thought as Darla took his hand and led him toward the back exit he'd seen Buffy and her vamp just leave through. He didn't think it would take the Slayer long to finish off one little minion vamp, and he didn't want to keep her waiting.

However, as he and Darla entered the unlit alley behind the Bronze and wound their way through it to the street opposite the club, Xander found that he'd overestimated Buffy, or underestimated the vamp. As they walked around a corner in the alley, they came upon the tail end of Buffy's fight. Her stake had just entered the vamp's chest, and he burst into ashes a second later.

Darla was no fool, Xander realized a moment later. She knew about Slayers, and she could see a trap when confronted with one. Apparently, it took all of half a second for this to process in her mind. After that, her right hand squeezed his painfully, and her left had grabbed him by the throat. Before Xander could react, he was thrown toward the brick wall on his left, just getting his right arm up in time for it to absorb some of the impact.

Darla had already turned to confront Buffy, and stalked cautiously toward the Slayer. Buffy held her stake at the ready while the two blondes circled one another. Darla lunged with a right cross at Buffy's head, which the Slayer blocked. Buffy took the opportunity to plunge her stake into the vampiress' heart, but Darla grabbed her wrist in an iron grip. Squeezing tightly, the stake fell uselessly out of Buffy's suddenly slack grip. She followed with a quick kick to the Slayer's midsection and an uppercut which sent her flying across the alley.

Buffy landed hard on the pavement, a few feet short of the alley's street entrance, wincing momentarily before flipping herself back to her feet. Just in time to be tackled back to the ground by a charging and growling Darla. The impact knocked the wind out of Buffy, and the vampiress took advantage to land a couple vicious punches to the Slayer's head. Buffy dodged her head out of the way of the third shot, and Darla's fist hit the pavement, and an audible crunch was heard as a couple of fingers broke. Darla's temporary impairment allowed Buffy time to swing her legs up from behind Darla, wrapping them around her neck and flinging her back, off the Slayer.

The two combatants regained their feet at the same time. Buffy tried a snap kick to Darla's left side, but, using inhuman speed and agility, she dodged inside the kick and landed her own on the Slayer's exposed back, sending her off balance into the wall. Buffy's hands shot forward to steady herself against the wall, then delivered a back left elbow to Darla's head when she sensed the vampiress behind her. She then spun into a hard right backhand, which staggered her opponent onto the sidewalk.

Spying a shard of wood on the ground, Buffy deftly scooped it up and advanced out of the alley onto a sidewalk bathed in streetlights. Darla threw a right jab, her fingers already healed, which Buffy blocked, and responded with her own to Darla's chin, snapping her head back. The Slayer followed up with a roundhouse kick to her head, sending her back-first to the pavement. Buffy pounced beside the prone vampire and in one fluid motion brought her makeshift stake over her head and down to Darla's chest. But again her stake-arm was caught mid-jab, and Darla used her other arm to sweep Buffy's legs from under her, sprawling the Slayer on her back.

Darla then pounced on the prostrate Slayer, pinning her arms to the pavement. "It's been sooo long since I've had Slayer's blood," the vampiress said as her face shifted to its demonic visage. "And once you've had that, you can never go back." With that, Darla descended to Buffy's neck, fangs bared.

Unfortunately for her, Darla had forgotten all about her former 'date.' She was reminded when a steel-toed kick landed in her side, cracking a couple ribs. She grunted in pain and looked up at her attacker in time to see a boot connect with her head, hard. The vampiress was knocked back, off of Buffy.

When Darla was knocked prone, Xander put his ad hoc plan into motion. He'd liberated a bottle of holy water from Buffy's jacket, which she'd probably shrugged off during her first fight. Then, he'd stood back to see if Buffy could handle Darla on her own, awaiting his chance if things went sour. Once Buffy had been pinned down, he took his opportunity.

Before she could get to her feet, Xander splashed the holy water onto Darla's face. She screamed out in pain, instinctively clutching her hands to her smoking face before she figured out that was what Xander wanted. Realization came too late.

Xander dropped to his knees and without further ado slammed his stake home, piercing her unbeating heart. "Sorry, Darla. You're not my type," he said just before she shrieked and burst into ashes. The four hundred year old vampiress' wail reverberated through the still night air like a death knell for a few more seconds before the street fell silent again.

Xander got to his feet again, deliberately stepping on Darla's ashes, which gave him an odd sense of satisfaction. He'd avenged Jesse's death by saving Jesse's life. Anything's possible on the Hellmouth he thought wryly. He was about to help Buffy up when he saw her looking at something behind him, and heard a familiar voice from the same direction.

"Xander!?"

Turning, Xander saw the incredulous expressions on the faces of Willow Rosenberg and Jesse McCormick, who seemed riveted to the sidewalk.

Getting over his surprise at seeing his friends, Xander grinned sheepishly. "Uh. Hey guys," he paused. "What's up?" he asked cheerily.

  
  


End IV


	3. Repercussions

See first part for Disclaimer, etc.**__**

  
  


**_Chapter V - Repercussions_**

  
  


_January 6, 1997_

_7:50 PM_

_Street behind the Bronze_

  
  


Willow couldn't believe her eyes. The scene she had just witnessed was too unreal. It was utterly impossible. Because there was no way that her best friend since pre-school, the man she loved, Xander Harris, had just killed someone. There was _no way_.

The horrible scene kept replaying in her mind. She and Jesse had just turned a corner on their way to the Bronze, when they saw two girls struggling on the sidewalk, and Xander kicking the one on top off. Then he'd splashed something on her face that caused her to scream out in pain. Acid? the analytical part of her mind wondered. As if that wasn't enough, her friend had then dropped to the ground and stabbed the woman in the chest. No hesitation. Just killed her. Then the woman had exploded into dust.

WHAT!?!?!? she screamed to herself. People don't disintegrate when you stab them!! What is going on here!?!?

The blond girl on the ground had sat up, but Xander's back was still to his friends, oblivious to their presence. Willow finally recognized the girl - Buffy. Buffy the new girl from school who was nice to her at lunch. Buffy at last noticed Willow and Jesse and grimaced at their shocked expressions. Xander still hadn't, though, instead standing and extending his hand to Buffy to help her up.

"Xander!?" Willow finally blurted out. He spun around in shock at Willow's voice, and a momentary silence fell over the four. Then Xander grinned that lovable grin of his and spoke.

"Uh, hey guys," he paused. "What's up?" he asked in an upbeat voice.

Willow didn't know if she wanted to scream or laugh her head off. So, she didn't do either, and the eerie silence settled in again. If was broken again by Jesse's shaky voice. "Xander, man, w-what did you do?"

Xander seemed to think about that because he didn't reply for a few seconds. "Uuuuh, I saved Buffy from a vampire," he drawled out slowly.

I must not be hearing him right. It sounded like he said 'vampire' "What?" Willow squeaked out.

"Um, that," Xander said calmly, pointing to the pile of ashes in front of him, "was a vampire. I killed her with a wooden stake to the heart," he finished, holding up his knife - no, Willow saw, it was indeed a sharp piece of wood.

"B-but, vampires don't exist. Th-they're n-not real," Willow stuttered out quietly. Jesse was still at a loss for words, she saw.

Buffy had gotten to her feet on her own as the trio had their disjointed conversation. She stepped forward to back Xander up. "They do, Willow. See," she said, bending down to grab a handful of Darla-dust and letting it seep through her fingers. "Dead vampire. That's what happens when you kill 'em. They poof into dust." She wiped her hands together, getting the dust off.

"Yeah!" Xander put in excitedly. "And this," he said, indicating the half-full bottle of liquid still in his hand. "is holy water. Burns 'em," he smiled, turning to Buffy for more help.

"OK, OK," Willow interrupted. The shock-induced over-rationality had largely worn off when Xander had started acting Xander-y again. "If these are vampires, how do you know about them?" she asked.

"Well, uh, Wills," Xander answered, "Buffy here kills them for a living. Not that she, y'know, gets paid or has a dental plan or anything."

Buffy rolled her eyes and smirked up at Xander, "Maybe I should go on strike."

"But she's a girl!!" Jesse blurted out without thinking. Willow couldn't believe Jesse had said that. Buffy had turned a narrow-eyed glare of death at him, and Willow was really surprised her friend hadn't burst into flames under it.

"Jesse, man," Xander said, grabbing Buffy by her shoulders, in what he obviously deemed a necessary measure to keep his friend from being ripped to shreds. Willow felt a flash of jealousy when Buffy didn't shrug him off like most girls would Xander. "ain'tcha ever heard of Girl Power?"

Everyone turned confused gazes at Xander. "Spice Girls around yet?" he asked, which caused even more confusion. "Guess I need to de-update by pop culture references."

"Xander, what on earth are you talking about!?" Willow exclaimed in frustration.

Xander sighed and held his hands out to Willow in surrender. "All right. Look, Wills, Jess, it's kinda a long story. How about we all meet tomorrow at lunch in the library, and I'll explain everything. OK?" he asked.

Though Willow was in a place very far from OK, she decided to give her best friend the benefit of the doubt. "OK. But you had better come clean then, Alexander Lavelle Harris!" she stated, pleased at the middle-name-usage grimace that appeared on Xander's face.

"Not the middle name, Wills," he whined. "Anyway, you guys should head home. I think we've pretty much killed the party-mood for tonight."

"What about you?" Jesse asked.

"Uh, Buff and I have an, uh, errand to run," Xander said sheepishly. "Don't worry, I'll be all right. I've got me a bodyguard," he said with a smile, wrapping an arm around Buffy's shoulders.

"Yeah," Buffy said, smiling as well. "And I've got my knight in shining armor to protect me," and she wrapped her arm behind his back.

Willow looked on dubiously at the duo grinning like idiots with their arms around each other. Super. Another girl who is not me for Xander to fawn over she thought enviously.

"Come on, Wills," Jesse said, shaking her out of her jealous stupor. "Let's leave the happy couple alone," he said with a grin. Said couple finally stepped away from one another at Jesse's words.

Willow nodded, and decided to rudely not say 'good night' to Xander and Buffy. She simply nodded at them, turned and walked away the way the came.

"Later, guys," Jesse called to Xander and Buffy as he jogged to catch up to the departing Willow.

  
  


Unseen by the four teenagers, a being lurked in the shadows across the street, between two rundown warehouses. He had dragged a screaming and struggling girl there five minutes before Buffy had staked Thomas. After draining his victim, he had observed the fight between the blond girl wielding a stake and Darla, whom he recognized as one of his sire's favorite childe.

He was very surprised when Darla was blind-sided by the dark-haired boy and killed before she could raise a hand to defend herself. Watching the exchange between the four in the aftermath, he realized the blond girl was one of the hated Slayers his Master had told him of after he'd been sired sixty five years ago.

The boy was a mystery, however. He obviously knew of his breed; he had called Darla by her name. Perhaps one of their newer recruits culled from the high school population would know of this Alexander Harris.

The vampire briefly considered following and capturing the boy and girl walking away from the Slayer. After all, the Master was waiting for offerings back in his lair. However, he decided against this. He had been the only one who had witnessed Darla's death, and the Master was a stickler for wreaking vengeance on those that disturbed his family. When the Slayer and Harris retreated back into the alleyway, the spying vampire left his hiding spot, heading for the mausoleum entrance to the Master's lair.

He was not looking forward to his reception there.

  
  


* * * * *

  
  


_January 7, 1997_

_12:30 AM_

_Summers Residence_

  
  


Buffy slowly walked up the stairs to her room, dead on her feet after a four hour long stakeout with Xander. After they parted company with Willow and Jesse, Xander had led them to the crypt he claimed housed the entrance to the Master's lair. They had found the chained entrance, but had not disturbed it. Instead, they laid in wait for Luke, setting up an ambush for the powerful vampire. Unfortunately, as Xander had said may happen, Luke never showed up, and not one vampire came or went for the rest of the night.

The result was one dog-tired Slayer who'd had a very full day. She was very relieved that her mother had not waited for her, and chastised her for breaking curfew by half an hour. Buffy could really do without another dose of mom-ing tonight.

Buffy quietly opened the door to her room, hoping not to wake her mom, and flipped on the light switch. She shed her jacket (making sure to replace her Slaying perephenilia in her locked trunk) and quickly changed into her pajamas. Climbing into bed, Buffy suddenly decided that tonight was a good night to update her diary, considering everything that had happened in the last sixteen hours. Pulling it out from between her mattresses, she reached for a pen on her nightstand and began writing.

  
  


*~*~*

  
  


Jan. 6/97

Dear Diary,

Remember how I thought the day I met Merrick would always be the weirdest day of my life? Well, move over 'day I met Merrick,' we have a new champion. Today was the weird day that all future weird days, anywhere, will be compared to.

In the plus column, I made some new friends. I hope. As long as my night job doesn't scare them away. That's right. They found out about my Slayer-ness. I'll tell you how in a bit.

Willow and Jesse seem normal enough. Willow's a little mousy, and Jesse's a little sexist (just a girl, my ass), but they were nice. Not like high-and-mighty Cordelia, who rules the school with a velvet-gloved fist. I shudder to think I was so much like her just a year ago.

And then there's Xander. Where do I start? Normal stuff first. Funny, confident, and smart. Did I mention pretty good looking, too? Well, he is. Now the weird stuff. He knows everything about me. Literally. How, you ask? He's from the future. That's right, I said _the future_.

He says he died five years from now and some higher power sent him back in time to relive his life in order to help me in my Slaying. Which I've been roped into again. See below for details.

He knows about Mr. Gordo, which no one outside my family does. So he must have been, or will be, a really close friend. Maybe more. He gave me a pep talk today that seemed very boyfriend-y. I could see myself dating him, I think. In fact, he might be the perfect guy to date. He probably knows all my foibles, likes, dislikes, etc. And the biggie, he knows about the whole Chosen One deal. Of course, the 'getting-to-know-you' portion of the relationship would be pretty one-sided, though.

All of this, though, depends on whether the world ends tomorrow night. And we're back to the weirdness. Turns out Sunnydale is just crawling with vamps, and their boss is trying to open a gateway to hell. Which would be bad, according to my new Watcher. Yup, it's a British one, again. And he wears tweed. And he's boring as hell. Yippee.

Anyway, tonight I met Xander at this night club, the Bronze, which is pretty much the only one in Sunnydale. He told me to wear something nice, I thought it was just his hormones talking. But, like I said, he's good looking, so I did. It turned out he just wanted me to be eye candy so I could pick up one of the two vamps we were there to take care of. His plan worked, though, and I dusted mine, while he brought his vamp out to the slaughter. Unfortunately, I haven't trained in months, and the bitca almost beat me. Almost, I say, because Xander saved me and staked vamp-slut where I couldn't. Well, he has been doing this for five years, he said, so he can take care of himself. This is doing nothing to lessen his appeal.

Of course, our timing couldn't have been worse. Willow and Jesse walked up just as Xander staked vamp-chicky, and they saw her explode into ashes. Then there was the normal stunned disbelief. Y'know, the whole 'vampires don't exist' 'spiel. Eventually, we calmed them down, and we'll explain the whole deal to them tomorrow. Xander said that Willow was one of those 'through thick and thin' friends he said I'd have. Jesse ... well, Xander says probably, but he doesn't know for sure. Mainly because Jesse wasn't supposed to survive past tonight, so my time-traveling friend says. But, that's his mission statement: save people that are doomed to die. Worked well tonight.

All right, it's almost one in the morning now, and I've got a big day tomorrow, saving the world and all. So, that's it for now.

  
  


BAS

  
  


*~*~*

  
  


Satisfied, Buffy closed her journal and slid it back underneath the mattress. Turning off her bedside lamp, she soon drifted off into a nightmare-filled sleep.

  
  


* * * * *

  
  


_January 7, 1997_

_1:00 AM_

_The Master's Lair_

  
  


The few minions of the vampire known as the Master unlucky enough to be on duty in his cavern this night were terrified almost out of their minds. Leaving without his permission was an insult punished by an excruciating, drawn out death under normal circumstances. And circumstances were anything but normal. But remaining, considering his current mood, was almost as risky. One of his more trusted minions, Colin, had come baring bad news. He was now a pile of dust in front of the Master's throne.

One of the minions flinched as a candle holder hit the wall a few inches from his head, thrown by a very incensed Master. Since he had arisen from his enforced limbo just five hours before, very little good news had come his way. His promised offerings of young blood were not obtained. There was a Slayer in town to possibly thwart his rising and the return of the Old Ones. And now, his favored childe was dead.

The Master scattered various pots off a table in the corner of his cavern, before lifting a taloned fist and smashing it with a furious roar. The wooden boards broke as easily as a toothpick under his wrath. Never in his seven centuries of existence had he been this enraged. Darla had been his favorite. Luke was probably the strongest of his childe, but he was always subservient. He rarely showed initiative and was even more fanatical to their cause than the Master himself.

But Darla. Darla had had the gaul to walk out on her own sire. Despite what he'd said at the time, he was proud that he had such an independent childe. She had gone off with Angelus and made a name for herself. The Scourge of Europe. The most feared band of vampires in history. It made a father proud.

She'd returned to the fold, of course, though half a century later than he'd expected. It was no matter. Darla had become a force to be reckoned with because of her travels. She had feasted on the blood of two Slayers in that time, and taken the lives of thousands. She'd spread his family to all corners of the earth, creating some of the world's most dreaded vampires.

"And now, she has been slain by a mere _child!!_" the Master bellowed. Colin had told him that much before the Master had taken his un-life in a blind rage, ripping his head off his body. "A _boy_ whose life is meaningless! Whose life blood I could drain from him in an instant! _He_ has taken from me my favored childe!?" he raved. Grabbing a piece of shattered wood from the ground, he lunged at the nearest minion, stabbing him through his chest. The trembling vampire burst into ashes instantly.

Dropping the shard, the Master fell to his knees, still shaking in fury and grief. He knew what had to be done. What he had always done when his childe were slain in the past. He would seek vengeance. In the rare occasions he had ventured up from underground, it had been to seek murderers of his family. His old lair in England he had adorned with the skulls of those that killed his childe. Heads he had ripped off personally in retribution for his fallen family members. The bones of a dozen Slayers had decorated his walls.

He had left that behind when he had come to America sixty years before, thinking he would have no need for such prizes when he ruled over the world. Then that cursed earthquake had struck, just as his moment of triumph had arrived. He'd become trapped, in a house of worship, as vile a punishment as he could imagine. But this was worse. Being stuck underground, while Darla's killer walked free, was gut-wrenching. He swore that the first thing he would do upon his ascension would be to find this Alexander. Find him and torture him in ways his feeble mind could never comprehend. He would torture those he loved. He would destroy them before his eyes. Make him beg for death. Then allow him to heal and break him again. But before that could be done, other tasks needed to be carried out. His ascension to god hood, for instance.

"Luke!" the Master called out. "We must prepare..."

  
  


* * * * *

  
  


_January 7, 1997_

_11:40 AM_

_SHS Library_

  
  


Xander walked into the library alone, and found that he was the last to arrive for their little pow-wow. Willow was pacing anxiously in front of the counter, while Jesse sat on the table, with Giles looking on, frowning at the improper use of his table. Oh, man. Giles is gonna freak. Jesse is just as annoying as I was. OK, am. It'll be like there's two of me

He could hear dull thumps from somewhere out of his sight, and decided Buffy was working over a punching bag in the training area. She was probably feeling less than confident about her martial arts skills after her close call with Darla the night before.

The quiet squeak of the swing doors attracted the attention of the others, and their heads snapped up to look at Xander. He just smiled at his friends. "Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late. I kinda fell asleep during Math, and Mr. Garrison decided to give me a talkin' to."

"Well, if you weren't up all night running an _errand_," Willow said with irritation. "you would have had to sleep in class." Xander winced at the comment. Willow was pissed. Coming from this Willow - shy, quiet Willow - it was the equivalent of a severe tongue lashing by anyone else. She felt betrayed. He, Willow and Jesse had always shared everything, and she thought he had kept this big secret from her. Luckily, he was saved from answering by Jesse chuckling.

"Jeez, Wills, you don't need to be tired to fall asleep in Mr. Garrison's class," he said with a grin. It earned him a mild glare from Willow.

Well Xander thought. Jesse's already stepping into my old role. Makin' with the jokes to ease the tension

Buffy walked into the library's main room just then, toweling a little sweat off her forehead. She smiled when she saw him. "Hey, Xand."

"Whassup Buff?" Xander said. "What did that poor punching bag ever do to you?"

"It started it," she insisted. "Said this outfit makes my ankles look fat. What do you think?" she asked with a twirl, giving him an all-aspect view of her.

Who are you and what have you done with Buffy? This is shameless flirting! With me! Xander! OK, time to do the insightful reassurance thing  
Looking in her eyes, he spoke seriously. "Don't worry, Buff. You'll kick his ass."

She went a little wide-eyed, but then smiled gratefully at him. Out of the corner of his eye, Xander caught Willow looking on sadly, and realized this little Buffy-Xander moment playing out in front of her was hurting her. He really needed to figure out how to resolve that situation, sooner rather than later.

Giles cleared his throat, and all eyes turned to him. "If we could, I'd like to get this over with. I still have some researching to do regarding this-this Harvest affair."

Xander and Buffy sat on one side of the table, Jesse and Willow on the other, with Giles at its head. He launched into a familiar lecture, to Xander, at least. Demons ruled the earth ... they were forced out ... last demon mixed his blood with a human. Willow was listening with rapt attention; she'd always been a sponge when it came to new information - she absorbed it quickly. Jesse was bored; he liked lectures as much as Xander did.

"...now," Giles continued. "As long as there has been vampires, there has been the Slayer. One girl in all the world, the Chosen One."  
"They love to do this part," Buffy put in, much to Giles' annoyance.

"All right. The Slayer hunts vampires, Buffy is the Slayer. Don't tell anyone. That is all the vampire information you need." he finished.

"One question," Jesse put up his hand. "How do you kill 'em?"

Sighing, Giles answered. "Well, a wooden stake through the heart is fatal, as is decapitation," Willow squirmed at that, "incineration, and sunlight. Crosses, garlic and holy water burn and repel vampires, but they heal quickly."

"OK," Willow said. "That explains how Buffy is involved in this," she turned her eyes to Xander. "but, Xander, how did you know about vampires?"

Xander had not been looking forward to this. Telling your life long friends that you weren't exactly who they thought you were couldn't be received well by said friends. Xander decided to go into as much detail as possible to explain his presence here; he hadn't really given an adequate answer to Buffy and Giles, so now was a good time for specifics. Taking a deep breath, Xander started with the always popular, "I'm from the future..."

Xander explained for the next ten minutes everything that happened to him in the last (to him) two days. His death, leaving out who his killer was and what he'd been doing that night. Waking up in the white world. Talking with Whistler. Explaining about the shifting Balance between good and evil, leaving out the specifics. The three tragedies he was sent to prevent, though he didn't tell his friends what they were. Accepting the responsibilities and the consequences of his mission. And finally, waking up in his room on Sunday night.

By the time he'd finished, the four other people in the room were in open-mouthed shock. Giles was in awe of the scale of Xander's involvement in the grand game between good and evil. Buffy was stunned at the responsibilities that Xander had willingly taken on his shoulders, even with the damnation failure would bring. To her, it was like accepting the burden of being the Slayer, but with far worse consequences in the end. For Willow and Jesse, the shock came from the fact that the goofy friend they'd known all their lives had lived a whole other life, and had, in fact, grown up. His serious tone and self-confident attitude during his speech was proof enough of that. They'd never seen that in him before.

"Why?" Buffy asked in wonder. "Why would you willingly take on that much responsibility? When, if you screw up y-you go to hell?"

Because if I didn't, the demon in your body was going to kill everyone I love Xander couldn't say. Instead, he just shrugged it off. "I was dead. What else was I going to do with my time?" Buffy was getting ready for an angry retort, but Xander interrupted. "Look! It doesn't matter why. I had my own reasons, that I'd really like to NOT discuss with anyone at the moment. What's done is done. I'll deal."

"Giles," Xander said, snapping the older man out of his trance. "Have you confirmed what I told you about the Harvest?"

"What?" the Watcher asked, still distracted. "Oh, oh, yes. I-I've found several references t-to apocalyptic prophecies for the first crescent moon after the winter solstice, which is tonight. It was as you said. The-the Master vampire can break free by drawing power from one of his minions while it feeds," Giles looked around the library for something, and his eyes fell on a book on the circulation desk. He walked over to get it, flipping through pages as he returned to the four students sitting around the table. Finding what he was looking for, the librarian laid the book on the table for them to see. It showed a three-pointed star. "The vessel, as the minion is called, bears this symbol."

"So, I just dust the vamp sporting this, and no Harvest?" Buffy asked, wanting to be sure.

"Simply put, yes," Giles confirmed.

"So, any idea where this little get together is being held?" Buffy wondered next.

"The Bronze," Xander said simply. "Plenty of defenseless teenagers to snack on."

Buffy and Giles nodded at the logic of that, plus the fact that Xander knew exactly where it would be held in advance. Turning to Willow and Jesse, Xander smiled his lop-sided grin, and asked, "So, you guys want to help save the world?"

  
  


End V


	4. The Harvest

See previous part for Disclaimer, etc.  
  


**_Chapter VI - The Harvest_**_  
  
_

_January 7, 1997_

_9:30 PM_

_The Bronze_  
  


Music blared from the surround sound speakers strategically placed around the Bronze to create an auditorium. Inter-mixed with the lyrics of "Wearing Me Down" were the loud voices of teenagers sitting at tables or dancing. Spreading the latest gossip on who was dating who, talking about what homework wasn't getting done, getting psyched up for the big basketball game Thursday night. Totally oblivious to the impending danger and apocalypse they would face this night.

Lucky them Buffy thought glumly. If she had a nickel for every time she had wished she could return to that state of blissful ignorance regarding the creatures of the night ... well, y'know. A big bank vault would be involved. Unfortunately, wishful thinking gets a person nowhere, so Buffy tried to ignore that whiny part of her mind and focus on her task tonight. She was the Slayer, nothing could change that, and lives depended on her.

The 'Scooby Gang,' as Xander insisted their little group be dubbed, had met after school to plan a strategy to stop the Harvest. Buffy was anxious about letting her new friends get too deeply involved in the fight. She was the Slayer, after all, the *one* person in all the world, etc., etc. Xander and Giles she was less worried about. The former had proven himself to some extent the night before, while the latter was going to be her trainer and thus had to have some fighting skills himself. Jesse and Willow, however, had probably never faced anything remotely as dangerous as a vampire. Who knows how they would react. Which was why she'd made them promise to stay back and stick together when things got rough.

Looking around the Bronze, Buffy saw that everyone was in position. Giles was on the upper level, gripping the railing tightly as rambunctious teenagers made out, danced or talked above the music behind him. He was obviously not having a good time, Buffy thought with a smile. A zipped up bag filled with a variety of vampire-killing gear, similar to the one she had sitting by her feet, lay on the floor beside him. 

Willow and Jesse were hanging out by the bar, Willow wringing her hands nervously and taking a sip of caffeinated beverage every five seconds or so. Jesse appeared more laid back, watching the dance floor with a lecherous smirk. Ogling Cordelia, no doubt. That boy is a glutton for punishment Xander was outside, awaiting the arrival of the 'guests of honor.'

Buffy herself sat nursing her own drink at the table she and Xander had occupied the night before, waiting for him to return. She didn't tell anyone, or let it show in her actions, but she was a little apprehensive herself. The last time she'd faced a group of vampires had been months before, when she'd taken on Lothos in LA. And that time, the fate of the world hadn't been hanging in the balance. Her fight against Darla Monday night had also shaken her self-confidence more than she let on, and an unnerved Slayer was a dead Slayer. Some of her poise was restored from Xander's apparent trust in her abilities, and his reassurances to her about that. Buffy supposed that he had seen her at her worst and best, and would know what he was talking about.

Glancing at the clock above the bar, again, Buffy wondered what was taking so long for the vamps to arrive.  
  


  
  


Standing outside by an alley entrance, Xander was thinking the same thing. Though his memory wasn't crystal clear about when Luke and his posse had shown up at the Bronze, he knew the Scoobies had arrived between nine thirty and ten, and the vamps had already arrived. Now it was quarter to ten, and they were no where to be seen.

Seeing the street before him empty of people, Xander decided to check the alley to see if the vamps were coming from that direction. Nothing moved, so he turned to face the street again, sighing in impatience. A voice behind him startled him, but the short flash of fear was quickly replaced by annoyance.

"Hey, kid," a man's voice said. Xander spun around and rolled his eyes as he recognized it. The dark dressed man make that irritating, broody, guilt-ridden vampire stepped out of the shadows he'd concealed himself in beside a dumpster. "If I were you, I'd call it a night. Head on home."

"Deadboy!!" Xander exclaimed angrily to Angel's surprise. "You were here that night and you didn't even lend a hand in saving the world!? What the hell is the matter with you? What kind of dark, brooding hero sits back and waits for the end of the world after giving a cryptic message or two to the good guys?"

Needless to say, Angel was taken aback by Xander's outburst. "I know who you are, Angelus," Xander continued. It was one of his favorite new hobbies to watch people (or the undead) gawk at him when he unveiled their deepest, darkest secrets. Despite his normally stoic exterior, Angel was no exception. "Scourge of Europe until those pesky gypsies came along, huh?"

"Who are you?" the vampire asked, his composed demeanor restored after a moment.

"Xander Harris, soul boy," he answered. "You and I have a mutual acquaintance. Guy about so high," Xander said, holding his hand about eye level. "possibly the world's worst dresser, likes to balance stuff."

"Whistler?" Angel asked. "How do you know him?"

"Welllllllll," Xander drawled out. "He gave me pretty much the same mission you got. Help the Slayer. Stop the Master."

Angel looked at him suspiciously. "But you're just human."

"Well, excuse me for living, but we can't all have vampire super strength, Deadboy," Xander winced at his unintended pun. "There are other ways to help besides getting involved in shoot-down, drag-out fights," Xander left it at that. You're not the only one who can be cryptic, smart ass

Angel apparently didn't like when the shoe was on the other foot and he pressed on. "So, how are you supposed to help her?"

Xander didn't get to answer. Up ahead, a group of figures had just turned the corner. A big, hulking man led the way, with ten or so 'friends' behind him. Xander thought that there were more vamps here this time than he remembered. Well, duh. Darla's dead, they didn't get Jesse, so they sent out for reinforcements. That's why they're late! Oh, great, here's one of those unintended consequences

Deadboy! He can help! Xander tore his eyes from the approaching vampires and looked at Angel. "They're coming. We're outnumbered big time. We're gonna evacuate the Bronze. Distract them for a couple minutes. Take out a couple if you can," Xander tried to sum up the situation with as few words as possible, then turned and ran back to the Bronze to give his friends the signal. I hope Angel doesn't pull another disappearing act on us this time  
  


  
  


As Xander rushed past the Bronze's doorman, Angel was considering doing/ just that. For the past hundred years or so it had been his natural instinct to stay out of supernatural or, for that matter, human affairs. He was loathed by his own kind, by his own sire even, while he also had no place in the human society. When he had tried to resume his vampiric ways after his soul was restored, he failed to live up to the barbarism that Darla had demanded of him. When he shook himself from his brooding stupor long enough to try and help humanity, he'd been betrayed by the very people he'd been trying to help. So, he exiled himself from both communities, living on the streets, subsisting on the blood of vermin.

That is, until he met Whistler. The Balance Demon took Angel under his wing, so to speak, and showed him something that gave him a flicker of hope that he was not doomed to a miserable, solitary existence. Showed him someone, really. Buffy Summers.

The future Slayer had exuded an inner strength that Angel knew he couldn't match, but she also possessed an innocence that made her seem to be the most vulnerable creature on earth. She was just a child, really, but she would be facing the most horrid and unspeakable dangers the world had ever known. It had made him yearn to help her, to protect her. He wanted to fight for her.

And now she was in danger. Angel watched a dozen vampires walk by while he stayed in the shadows. He recognized Luke, whom he'd met centuries before during his first encounter with the Master. The monster had only been about fifty years old at the time, but had developed into one of the Master's most powerful and trusted minions. And that was over two hundred years ago. This many vampires plus Luke would push any Slayer to their limit, and Buffy was still relatively inexperienced. She'd need help. He could give it.

"Luke!" Angel called out, stepping out of the shadows onto the sidewalk. "Long time no see, old friend."

The behemoth stopped in his tracks, and his minions followed suit. Turning slowly, Luke growled. "Angelus. Or is it Angel now?"

Angel scoffed in his best Angelus impression. "Oh, please. Like that pathetic soul could keep me contained for long."

Fortunately for Angel, Luke may have been long on brawn, but he was definitely short on brains. He seemed to consider that for a few seconds. "So. You have returned to your murderous ways, then, brother? Do you wish to join us tonight in bringing about the end of history?"

Twisting his lips into a cruel smirk, Angel responded. "Let's just say I have my own interests at heart." The souled vampire was relieved that Darla was not among the vampires tonight; his sire could have seen through his charade in an instant. Where is she anyway? he wondered idly. Angel slowly sauntered toward the vampires, gripping the stake in his oversized trenchcoat pocket. He knew what the symbol etched in blood on Luke's forehead meant. If he could get the jump on Luke, he could prevent the Harvest.

He didn't make it in time, though. A shrill alarm suddenly cut through the night, overriding the muffled music emanating from down the street. Abruptly the music cut off, and only the alarm could be heard. The vampires turned toward the Bronze, where they realized the fire alarm was coming from. To his credit, it didn't take Luke long to figure out he'd been had.

"Treachery!!" he spat at Angel. "You cannot stop the Harvest! The Master will arise and end your pitiful existence! You three," he motioned to three of his minions, "take the traitor! The rest of you come with me. The end of days is at hand!" he ranted, advancing toward the Bronze's front entrance.

Angel cursed to himself. He'd been so close! Now he had to settle for keeping the three vampires left behind busy. Something he was prepared for, nevertheless. He'd been weak and uncoordinated when Whistler had found him on the streets of Manhattan, but he'd been brought back up to his formidable vampiric powers in a matter of months.

The first charged him carelessly, and Angel withdrew his stake from his coat pocket and quickly plunged it into his chest. The remaining two witnessed their comrade's demise and proceeded more cautiously, circling Angel in opposite directions. Expecting him to adopt a defensive posture, the vampire on Angel's left was caught off guard when the souled vampire leapt forward and nailed his opponent with spinning jump kick. The surprised vamp went flying into the Bronze's wall.

Hearing growling behind him, Angel spun into a vicious backhand, solidly striking the third vamp. He was a big guy, though, and only faltered back a few steps. Angel aimed a kick at the vamp's midsection, but he just dodged out of the way. He lunged forward with his big fists, connecting twice and staggering Angel back before the third punch was blocked. Angel grabbed hold of his opponent's arm with his own, and rained down four quick punches to the vamp's face. Dazed, the vamp couldn't prevent Angel from judo flipping him to the ground.

Sensing the recovered second vamp, Angel back kicked, catching it in the chest. Angel quickly grabbed his dropped stake and leapt forward, jamming it into the stunned vamp's chest. Before his dust had settled, Angel turned back to the last vamp, who was back on his feet, although shakily. He lashed out with a clumsy punch, which Angel easily blocked, followed by a fast stake to the heart, and then he was no more than dust.

Angel stood there momentarily, stake in hand, as he felt the demon inside him howl in rage. He'd killed other vampires before, but that had been before his soul had been restored. They died as a result of brood wars, or were minions that had failed him in some way or another. This was the first time, however, that he'd killed his own kind in order to protect humans. That went against Angelus had stood for. It was a small victory, Angel thought, over the bloodthirsty beast that inhabited his body.

His part done, Angel cautiously approached the Bronze's entrance, wanting to witness the remainder of the battle in the shadows and render assistance if needed.  
  


  
  


Xander brushed by the doorman without a word, intent on his task. He stopped in the doorway, his eyes searching the establishment. He saw Buffy sitting at their table, her fist under her chin, propping her head up. He caught her eyes and she shot up, grabbing the weapons bag beside her. Xander kept looking around until finally he saw Jesse and Willow sitting at the bar. Jesse was looking out over the dance floor, while Willow was seated nervously beside him. Willow finally noticed Xander standing by the door, and she stood, elbowing Jesse and saying something to him. His male best friend stopped leering at Cordelia long enough to get the message.

The two of them made their way to one of the nooks and crannies in the Bronze, disappearing from Xander's view. They were looking for the hidden-away fire alarm somewhere in the night club's hallways. Xander looked up at the second floor and saw that Giles had also observed his reentrance. The Watcher was giving his glasses one last good wiping before all hell broke loose. Hopefully not literally

Xander didn't have anymore time for introspection because at that moment the ear-splitting cry of the fire alarm rang out. Most of the dancers stopped, and a few nervous nellies jumped in their seats at the unwelcome sound. The doorman abandoned his post to see what was going on inside. Xander and Buffy grabbed either side of him and started guiding him and everyone else toward the back emergency exit. A few stragglers exited through the front, Xander saw, but thankfully they went in the opposite direction he'd seen the vamps approaching from.

With the Bronzers going with the flow towards the back exit, Buffy came up to Xander and yelled in his ear so she could be heard over the siren. "Great plan, Einstein! I can't even hear myself think!"

Xander had the decency to look ashamed before he shouted back. "All right, so it's not my best idea ever! But I didn't hear you come up with anything better Little Miss Chosen One!"

Buffy shook her head and rolled her eyes, then got back to business. "How many!?" she asked earnestly.

"About ten! Less if Deadboy does something!"

"Deadboy!?"

"Yeah! Angel!" Doh! She's probably wondering why I called him that. No time to explain now, though. I just hope he doesn't go all fangy in front of Buffy if he shows himself

The last Bronze patrons were shuffling out the back when a six and a half foot tall ox-of-a-vampire charged through the front door, with eight puny (in comparison) minions on his heels. All were wearing their 'game faces' and looked thoroughly pissed. Xander noticed their drop in numbers. Thank you, Deadboy! I'm getting you an economy size bag-o-blood when this is over. Assuming you're not a pile of dust and I'm not a stain on the dance floor

Luke seemed about as peeved at the noise as they were, and finding its source, reached above the doorway to wrench the fire bell off the wall. The wail finally ended, though everyone's ears were still ringing.

When the vamps walked in the door, Buffy had unzipped her bag and pulled out a crossbow, preloaded, and tossed it to Xander. She retrieved her own, as well. Though Buffy had never picked up a crossbow before tonight, inherent weapons skills came with the whole Slayer package. She'd proven that after her first six practice shots at the library were all bulls-eyes.

Buffy and Xander stood in the middle of the vacated dance floor, crossbows pointing at the ground. The vamps hung by the door until Luke had finished ripping the bell off the wall. Willow and Jesse had returned from tripping the alarm and were wielding a cross and a stake, respectively.

"Thanks for doing that," Buffy said calmly to Luke after he'd turned to face her. "Kicking your ass'll be a whole lot funner when you can hear my witty repartee."

Xander smirked. Same old Buffy

Luke laughed mockingly at them. "Pathetic children. You think you can stop the Master's ascension? Your lifeblood will set him free!"

"Y'know," Xander said, "Darla thought that too. Until I shoved a piece of wood through her chest." Good move, Harris. Piss off the walking pile of muscles

Luke's yellow, animalistic eyes flared with rage. "You!! The Master has his own plans for you!"

"Wow. I've been noticed by the big guy himself. Y'know, I always wanted to be popular in high school," Xander said with a smile.

Before any more words could be spoken, there was a thwack from the Bronze's second level, and an instant later, an arrow impaled one of the vampire minions through the chest. An instant after impact, it exploded into ashes.

Giles had a crossbow, too.

Human beings, in situations of stress, can sometimes fall victim to their instincts, even if their safety is compromised by them. Apparently, that failing can be passed on to the undead.

In this case, all the vampires automatically snapped their heads toward the source of the sound, and saw Giles reloading his crossbow. Depending on the individual intelligence of each vampire, it took anywhere from less than a second to a few moments to remember that there were two other crossbow-toting enemies facing them.

Which was not enough time for the two targets. Buffy and Xander raised their weapons when the first vampire died and fired, the Slayer a second earlier than Xander. Neither took a shot at Luke, who had been the first to turn back to them. Xander had advised against it, since older vampires have sharper reflexes and thus the ability to dodge arrows or even snatch them out of the air. The two arrows flew true, and seconds later there were two new dust piles where once stood creatures of the night.

Three down, six to go Xander thought grimly. There was no time to reload his crossbow, because the vampires had leapt in to attack. Luke hung back, waiting for his minions to bring the sacrifices. One charged up the stairs toward Giles, while the other four bore down on Buffy and Xander. The undead misjudged the situation badly, with three taking on Xander, by appearances the bigger threat, while the runt of the pack advanced on the 110-pounds-soaking-wet Slayer.

The first minion was halfway up the stairs when Giles finished reloading his crossbow. He hurried his shot, and as a result, struck the vamp above and to the left of its heart. The creature grunted in pain, but resumed climbing after a moment of discomfort. Dropping the crossbow, Giles quickly bent over and rummaged through his bag. The vamp reached the top of the stairs and snarled at the Watcher before springing at him. Giles jumped back just out the vamp's clawed reach. It was off balance long enough for Giles to pop the cork on a bottle of holy water and splash it in the creature's face.

It howled in pain, clawing at his smoldering face. The Watcher barreled forward, pushing the vampire against the railing and flipping it over it. The vamp flailed his arms wildly as he went over, his claw catching Giles on his right arm, ripping his tweed jacket but not digging into his arm. The vampire fell fifteen feet to the stage below, right onto a microphone stand impaling him through his abdomen. Giles regarded his ripped coat with dismay.

"You're bloody lucky I have a closet full of these," he mumbled to no one in particular. He retrieved a cross and stake and headed downstairs to assist his Slayer.

Buffy, meanwhile, had a pathetically easy time with the scrawny vamp that approached her. It lashed out at her carelessly, which she easily ducked. She grabbed his arm and effortlessly flipped him on his back. Stunned by the turn of events, the vamp put up no resistance when Buffy plunged the stake into his chest. "I'm not even gonna dignify that fight with a retort."

Xander was in for it, however. He could take on a vamp one-on-one and have a good chance at survival, but being on the wrong end of three-to-one odds as he was, he was doomed. He let the first one charge in close to him, then jammed a cross in its face. The vampire's act of pulling his upper body back while still moving forward sent him stumbling to the ground. Xander was about to stake him when he was blind sided by the second vamp, and sent sprawling.

Xander lost his grip on his stake, but held onto his cross. He tried to jump back to his feet, but was instead hauled up by an angry vampire grabbing him by his jacket. He tried to bring the cross up to defend himself, but it was kicked out of his hand by the third vamp. Now completely defenseless, Xander was hurled at the feet of the first vampire, just getting up. "Give him to Luke. A soul for the Master!"

I'm really not liking the way this is going Xander thought irrelevantly. All of a sudden, the second vamp, the one who'd thrown him, gasped in pain. He was pushed forward, revealing his attacker as Jesse, and a stake in his back. The vamp fell to the ground and...

Didn't burst to dust.

"Missed the heart, Jess," Xander groaned. The first vampire, picking Xander up, abruptly dropped him, owing to the fact that his arms, and the rest of him had turned to dust. Xander looked up and saw his blond savior above him.

"But I didn't," Buffy said. She was about to attack the third vamp, which had turned on Jesse and Willow when two meaty hands grabbed her shoulders and threw her across the room into a stack of chairs.

"So, the Slayer," Luke growled, picking up a woozy Buffy and heaving her into a wall. "I was expecting something more."

"Join the club," she grumbled, getting to her feet before the monster could reach her. He grabbed for her again, but she ducked out of his grasp. She leapt into a spin kick which caught Luke in the back of his head, staggering him forward into the wall she'd previously met. He tried a backhand punch that Buffy ducked, and she responded with two roundhouse kicks to Luke's abdomen. He grabbed her leg when she attempted a third, and hurled her backwards, in amongst the tables.  
  


  
  


Xander regained his feet soon after Luke had sent Buffy flying into the wall. He got up in time to see the third vamp punch Jesse in the gut, winding him and sending him crumpled to the floor. Willow jumped to her friend's aid, shoving the cross she held in her shaking hand at the vampire. "Get away from him!" she yelled as forcefully as she could. The vampire cowered back, growling at the red-head. Xander knew that the cross wouldn't hold him back forever.

The second vamp, the one with the stake in its back, had gotten to its knees and was trying to remove said stake. Xander reared back and kicked it squarely in the jaw, probably loosening a few teeth. The creature flopped forward again, and Xander withdrew the stake, eliciting another moan of pain from the beleaguered vamp.

Xander crept up behind the vamp threatening Jesse and Willow, and tapped it on the shoulder. Then it did exactly what Xander expected. It spun around and tried to backhand him. Xander simply ducked, popped back up, and stabbed him through the heart. Poof, dust, dead.

Willow sighed in relief, lowering the cross and bending down to help Jesse up. Xander did so as well, setting his stake on the floor. He heard a snarl behind him a few seconds later, and mentally berated himself as he groped after his stake. He'd forgotten about the last vamp in his concern for Jesse. He finally grasped it and stood, only to have the wounded vampire barrel into him. However, as he went down with the vamp on top, the thing suddenly crumbled to dust, and a stake fell harmlessly onto Xander's chest.

Xander sneezed when the dust cloud descended on him, then opened his eyes to see Giles extending him his hand. Xander grabbed it and the older man helped him to his feet. "Thanks, G-Man," Xander wheezed, followed by another sneeze.

"Don't call me that," Giles responded after a half-hearted sigh.

Xander just smirked.

Until he heard an 'oof' from the table area. He turned and saw Luke marching toward a fallen Buffy.  
  


  
  


Buffy flipped herself to her feet in time to face the big vampire. He swung a haymaker at her head, but she blocked it and answered with a three punch combo of her own, finishing with a jumping front kick that caught Luke under his chin. The Vessel tottered back, bumping into and sprawling back on a table.

Buffy grabbed a metal stool as she stalked toward Luke. Raising it over her head, she brought it down on his midsection. Once. Twice. Three times. Then she swung it in his face, sending Luke tumbling over onto the floor. She discarded the dented stool and looked around for something wooden and pointy.

"Buffy!" someone yelled. She spun around to see a stake flying end-over-end through the air, courtesy of Xander. Deftly catching it, Buffy turned back to Luke, who was back on his feet.

"All right, Vessel-boy, this is where you get off," she quipped. Luke roared and lunged at Buffy. She stepped to the side and quickly spun on her heel, burying her stake in his back as he missed her by a mile. Luke's body blackened and crumbled away before it even hit the ground.

A post-battle silence descended over the Bronze, but was broken by a moan from Jesse, still nursing his sore gut. "I kicked his ass right?" he rasped out. "I-I beat him down and saved the world?" he asked hopefully.

"Sure ya did, Jess," Xander replied, grinning. "Sure ya did."

"Is it over?" Willow asked tentatively

"Yup!" Xander exclaimed. "Dusty over there is dust, so we can go party now. Woowoo!!" he whooped, throwing his arms in the air in celebration.

Everyone looked at Xander like he'd grown another head.

"No party, then?"  
  


* * * * *  
  


_January 8, 1997_

_12:15 AM_

_The Master's Lair_  
  


The Master looked upon his depleted ranks with shock and rage. If it wasn't for the fact that so many of his minions had fallen in the last two nights, he'd have ripped a few of them apart by now to sate his fury. Only one vampire, barely two years a member of the undead, had escaped the Bronze alive, if not unharmed. He was still clutching his midsection in pain where he'd been impaled by a metal pole.

Luke was dead. The Master knew that. He'd felt his eldest (after the death of Darla) childe die as he'd awaited his opportunity to break down the mystical barrier keeping him from the world. Now his eldest minion was Jason, whom he'd sired in Britain in 1918. If the last two nights were any indication, however, he was not nearly a match for his enemies.

Especially now that the nature of the forces arrayed against him had become clear. A Slayer. A powerful one at that if she had defeated Luke. Angelus. Darla's favorite childe now had turned and bit the hand that fed it. And four humans. One a Watcher, as the Master assumed he was based on the first hand description his injured minion had given. The other three, though, seemed to be mere children. Except for the fact that one Alexander Harris was among them. The surviving minion reported that he'd recognized Harris as he'd destroyed one of his comrades. He and the Slayer had fought side by side and he'd carried himself well in the battle. He was the wild card in the deck, and the Master knew not to underestimate those he did not understand.

And so, the Master was pessimistic about his future plans. His adversaries were few, but powerful. His forces, on the other hand, were few but weak. The Order of Aurelius would arrive in several weeks to bring him the Annointed One, but would then depart soon thereafter. With a Slayer on the surface, he dared not risk his few remaining minions in an effort to fill his ranks. As much as he was loathe to admit it, he would require outside assistance in order to once again gain the upper hand in time for the prophecy to open the Hellmouth.

"Jason," the Master called, taking care to keep his voice even and his frustration at bay. "Contact London. Have them enlist The Three and bring them to me..."  
  


* * * * *  
  
__

_January 8, 1997_

_8:45 AM_

_Sunnydale High School_  
  


"He's a _vampire_!?" Buffy asked a little too loudly as she and Xander walked up the path to school.

Xander winced at her blurted out question. "Y'know, normally, I'd make some crack about someone really far away not hearing you, but in this town it wouldn't matter. People only hear what they want to hear."

"Oops, sorry," she said, abashed. "But, how can he be a good guy if he's all evil and, y'know, fangy?"

"Well, Angel's a special case. 'Bout a century ago, he *was* all evil and stuff, but then he killed the wrong person. His victim's family cursed him with a soul, so that he'd have to live for eternity with the guilt. So he's doing this whole redemption deal now and helping you is part of that. Therefore, he's a white hat. For now."

"What!? Whaddya mean 'for now?'" Buffy asked, agitated.

"Well, his curse has this escape clause, where if he experiences a quote, moment of perfect happiness, unquote, his soul goes bye-bye and he's evil-killer-guy again."

"Soooo, what qualifies as a quote, moment of perfect happiness, unquote?" Buffy asked with a smile.

"Basically ... sex."

"He can't have sex!?" Buffy asked, again in a raised voice, causing a few heads to turn their way.

Xander addressed the eavesdroppers. "She's not talking about me! *I* am a tornado in the sack!" he said without an ounce of shame. I guess Anya did rub off on me

Buffy was another matter. Her face had turned red after her outburst, and redder still after Xander's. She was also giggling uncontrollably, and had to stop and lean against a wall to catch her breath. Xander's expression of sexual prowess had also jump-started the naughty corner of her mind and sent it veering in interesting directions.

"Are you mocking my manliness, Miss Summers?" Xander asked mock-seriously. "Because I'll have you know, I may be in a sixteen year old body, but I am *ALL* man!" he stated, waggling his eyebrows.

Buffy rolled her eyes after she'd stifled her laughter. "You're all something, all right."

Xander looked at her strangely. "Whatever that means," he said and continued walking the halls. "Anyway, where was I? ... Oh yeah! Deadboy can't get a happy or he goes all serial killer on us." Might as well slip this in... "Not disappointed, are ya? Now that 'annoyingly gorgeous' can't put out?"

"What!?" Buffy exclaimed, in what Xander realized, with some satisfaction, was a tone almost akin to disgust. "Why would I..." she stopped and looked thoughtfully at Xander. "Did I before?" she asked curiously.

Danger! Danger! "Well, you considered it for a while," Like three years "but then realized it could never really work out because of the curse and the whole two hundred years age difference." That's not ... totally a lie Xander justified to himself, then decided to go on the offensive. "Hey!" he asserted. "I'm not here to guide you through your love life, missy. It'll ruin the surprise!"

"OK, OK!" she apologized. "I don't think I wanna go out with a walking corpse, in any case. I think I'll stick to the land of the living when it comes to dating," she concluded assuredly. "Well, I've gotta go check in with Giles before class. You wanna come?"

Xander shook his head. "Na. Tell 'im I'll be stopping by after school though. I've got some stuff I need to talk to him about." She nodded and started to walk away.

"Oh, and Buffy?" Xander added, and she turned around. In a manner he hoped wasn't patronizing, he said, "Ya did great last night."

A half smile crept up her lips before she turned back and headed off to see her Watcher.

Xander smiled all the way to his locker, where he saw Willow and Jesse chattin' it up. As far as he could tell, this first part of his mission had gone off without a hitch. Two of the Master's most powerful minions were dust, the Harvest had been averted, Jesse saved, and Buffy turned off Angel and, he hoped, on to him. Swish! Nothin' but net  
  


End VI


End file.
